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As a follower of Chaos, I've noticed a disappointingly high propensity for Khrone warbands to follow the same patterns - blood-crazed, minndless berserkers. In so, I have written fluff for a Khornate renegade chapter that breaks from this trend a little - who knows, I may develop it into an army. C&C would be helpful, any suggestions of tings you'd like to see can be ncluded, including differnet characters, units, tactics, and a color shceme - please someone give me a color scheme for these kids!

Here it goes:


WENDIGOS CHAPTER, CURSED OF KHORNE


HISTORY

Originally a proud successor Chapter of the White Scars, the Wendigos were characterized by their unusual proficiency for stealth tactics and patience, in contrast to the lightning assaults and bike-supported raiding tactics preference shared by their brethren. The Wendigos hypothesized that through patience and cunning, any hunt could be successfully achieved. Their battle record in this manor was no deterrent, as they had claimed many proud victories over the millennia through their operations. One notable example that would have lived forever in the annals of the Imperium should the Wendigos had not fallen from grace was the assault on the fortress of Goreripper, the self-named daemonic leader of a Khornate warband. The Wendigos, called to the planet in aid by their predecessor White Scars, began a short distraction campaign that consisted of carefully misdirecting Goreripper’s forces. Troupes of traitor Space Marines were led away from their fellows and brutally cut down, their defiled corpses left on display in strategically selected zones. Over a few weeks Goreripper was convinced that the new element was stationed in the ruins of a destroyed city, the corpses of Khorne’s favored hanging as testament. Goreripper led the charge into the ruins, and was dismayed when his blood-crazed berserkers met not the rapidly approaching bike squadrons of the White Scars, but the heavy artillery of the Wendigos. While Goreripper watched his warband torn to shreds by devastator squads and predator tanks, he received a distress call from his first captain, Boraz. As he flew to aid Boraz, his own platoon already lost, his first sight was of the Wendigos Chief Librarian, eyes alight with witchfire, animating the severed head of Boraz like a puppeteer and mimicking his voice over the vox-leads. A drop pod containing a Thunderfire cannon descended into Goreripper’s path and annihilated the daemon prince before he had even time to precess his mistake. As he lay dying, Goreripper prayed to Khorne to damn these deceitful heathen, who cowered from their foes behind a line of gunfire and used witchery t deceive and squander the honor of their foes. And Khorne answered.

Months later, the Wendigos began experiencing strange mutations. Spikes of bone, horns, and teeth erupted from their flesh, and the Wendigos were stricken with an unquenchable appetite. Seeking meat, some Wendigos were driven to devour the flesh of their brethren, and realized it was the only substance that would provide sustenance. The howling, gibbering cannibals took to the field of battle, but many fell as a result of sudden failure of their enhanced physiology. Apothecarion studies on the cadavers revealed that the Chapter’s gene-seed was degrading at an alarming rate, to the degree where eventually the extra organs would rupture in the heat of battle. Upon examination, however, the corpses of those who had the chance to feed on the flesh of their foes were seemingly in good condition. There was only one conclusion – for the Chapter to remain proficient, the only option was to feed. Thus began the horrific practice of mid-battle feasting, as the Wendigos adapted their tactics so that they could safely feed on their kills in the heat of battle, ensuring victory. And the Blood God looked down at his punished children, and let out a fiery cackle in contentedness.

In the 41st Millennium, the Wendigos have been declared outcasts from the Imperium, earning themselves the title of Excommunicate Traitoris. A wandering fleet of ghost ships, the Wendigos are driven by one desire – to horde and devour corpses to entertain their further combats. To do this, they will fight anyone – followers of the Emperor, xenos, and even the forces of Chaos . They are reluctant to form alliances, but will do so if no other alternative arises. These alliances usually consist of the formidable combat prowess of the Wendigos, in return for the corpses of the slain – enemies and allies alike. The Wendigos possess a taboo against devouring their own, however – the augmentations and gene-seed of a Space Marine are rare, and it is easy for them to become lost should a blood-crazed battle borther fall upon their remains.

TACTICS

Prior to their split from the Imperium, the Wendigos employed a mixture of long-ranged and stealth tactics. This has carried over to their current state, and the Wendigos maintain a loosely organized structure of three companies – the Claws, the Teeth, and the Shroud. Each company is overseen by a division of the Chapter Headquarters. Combat squads of the Teeth make daily prayers to Khorne in return for improved prowess in the following battle. These brothers are the ones afflicted with the strongest bloodlust.

The second subdivision of the Chapter are the Claws. Claw squadrons are made up of long-rage devastators and vehicle accompaniments. The Claw is overseen by the Wendigos’ Techmarines, who take only the least crazed battle brothers into their ranks. Originally the Claw was overseen by Chapter Librarians, but Khorne hates psykers and so his new subjects butchered all of the chapter's witches. Techmarines work in tandem with the Claw, modifying suits of hallowed Terminator armor to wield more ranged weapons and essentially serve the roles of walking artillery units. It is a great punishment to be inducted into the ranks of the Claw, as it is a symbol of cowardice in the eyes of Khorne. Such warriors are nervous to ever take to the field of close combat again, for fear that Khorne will strike them down for their impunity. The role of havocs in the Claw is to provide covering fire for the Teeth assault contingents in battle, as a heavy fusillade is screening fire is necessary so that the Teeth can feats upon their kills, if only taking a few gory mouthfuls for a few seconds before it is time for the Claws to reload.

The final division of the Wendigos was codified as the Shroud but has been disbanded on account of their cowardly tactics. Every so often a corpse of a former Shroud member, now inducted into another company, will turn up impaled upon a spike in battle or will find his own fellows tearing into his flesh, should the Shroud brother attempt any other tactic than the ones involving a chainaxe.

NOTABLE INDIVIDUALS

Father Achak – The impromptu commander and spiritual leader of the Chapter, Father Achak is the foremost Blood Cleric and personal overseer of the chapter’s Teeth company. Clad in his antlered skull helmet he looks out on his legions of bloodstained maddened soldiers and cannot help but feel emboldened by the ruin his chapter has fallen to. He leads them through prayers and sermons laden with skulls, chants, sacrifices and dark idols, Achak fully gives his heart to Khorne and is constantly feasting on the flesh of his former brothers, the Space Marines of the Emperor.

Forge-Master Atunowhiho – nicknamed “the one who lives below” due to his fondness for his secluded forge, Forge-Master Atunowhiho is the head techmarine of the Claw company. Responsible for the maintenance of the Chapter’s many suits of armor and vehicles, Atunowhiho is infamous for his radical genius and deviousness when it comes to the matters of the machine. Having fathered numerous new and heretical patterns of cornerstone APCs such as the Rhino and Razorback, his most effective creation is the destructive Annihilator armor, a suit of terminator armor modified to carry a payload of cannons, melta weapons, and flamers. Atunowhiho himself goes into battle clad in Annihilator armor, his spider-like servo-harness bristling with plasma cannons, melta-cutters and heavy flamers.

Apothecary Qaletaqa – Operating alongside Father Achak in his hopes to find a cure, Qaletaqa’s studies revolve around finding the perfect meat, a substance that he feels will heighten the chapter's performance like no other. Qalteqa’s insistence on the discovery of such flesh was almost lost – in his dedication to the Blood God, he digested all manner of poisonous alien meats that were even too much for his enhanced physiology to cope with. Having been stricken ill by the constant tampering off his own genome and body, he was entombed within a dreadnought sarcophagus. This break from White Scars tradition is viewed as a necessary evil - if the Chapter is to survive, Qualetaqa's continued existence is necessary. Unlike most Chaos Dreadnoughts he does not lament his unloving condition – moreover, he celebrates it, with his sarcophagus cogitators modified to serve as an extensive databank of his medical research. In combat he is able to instantly log and organize data from his latest experiments, as willing Space Marines serving as test subject are analyzed in the heat of battle. He is a killing machine, his twin ceramite chainfists constantly drenched in blood.

Sergeant Megedagik – Megedagik revels as a true worshipper of Khorne, viewing the Brazen Lord as a liberator giving Megedagik free reign to practice his most favored art – death. A bloodstained champion killing, Megedagik is a tornado of destruction in battle, carving his way through foe after foe. No longer seen as a true member of the Chapter due to his habit for hunting own and butchering members of Claw while not in battle or bored, Achak has surrendered Megedagik to the whimsy of the apothecary dreadnought Qaletala, who feels free of conscience to experiment as he pleases on the former soldier. By some whimsy of the blood god, these experiments only increase Megedagik’s prowess – his mutations become more and more powerful and his adrenaline increased, always returning with larger and larger clusters of skulls for the Skull Throne. Sadly, the same substances never have the same effects on others, often poisoning or causing failure of the enhanced organs.

Hmm... sounds like these guys want their cake and eat it, too. They pay homage to Khorne, yet spurn his gifts and those of the Warp. This is asking for someone like Ohanzee to decide (or be told) that it's time for a change in leadership amongst the upper echelons. Their blood, too, is welcome.

Sounds more appropriate to be an Undivided warband.

Psienesis - I can't tell if you're being complimentary or derogatory :/

A bit of both, perhaps. While the listed characters and their personalities are interesting, and would make great characters in a 40K novel, I think the feel of the Chapter overall is entirely missing the point of what service to Khorne means, and how the Blood God is "properly" worshiped. If your Chapter is engaging in stealth tactics and diversions in order to win the battle with minimum bloodshed... or simply avoiding fighting altogether... then it's missing the point of what being a Khornate warband is about. The reason Khornate followers go crazy and become blood-soaked berserkers is because that's how Khorne wants them to be. In service to the Blood God, reason, self-control and restraint are cast aside in order to make more blood spill and flow in his name.

It is said that Khorne is worshiped on the battlefield, all the pageantry of pre-battle rituals and rites is simply a warm up for the soldiers before the real holy rites take place... that is, the frontal assault with screaming chain-axes and powerfists, which maximizes casualties. Khorne cares not from whence the blood flows, and that of his followers is as welcome as that of their victims.

Someone else mentioned that this would work as a Chapter devoted to Chaos Undivided, and I think I agree, though perhaps a Renegade Chapter would work better, rather than as on dedicated to the Blood God. Service to Khorne is a dedication to warfare... not the science of warfare or brilliantly-executed tactics, but the primal fury of carnage, bloodshed and slaughter. To me, there's too many people running around in this Chapter who haven't quite gotten with the program of service to the Ruinous Powers... seeking cures for Chaos, removing mutations (which, by the way, doesn't work out well... if your arm turns into tentacles and you cut it off and replace it with an augmetic arm, chances are, you'll wake up with metal tentacles), executing the too-far-gone... of course, this is a pipe-dream, finding a cure for Chaos, because this is not a disease you can inoculate against, or a bacteria you can stamp out with good hygiene, this is corruption of the soul and of the flesh.

I'm with Psienesis. These just don't feel like Khorne worshippers. They feel more like renegades afflicted by chaos.

Chaos, by it's very nature, drives it's adherents to extremes. That is the nature of chaos corruption. Khorne feeds off of battle lust, rage, and bloodshed, and therefore constantly pushes his followers in that direction. Just as how a Slannesh follower in search of perfection will eventually fall to ever more depraved levels of excess, mutation, and mutilation, a follower of Khorne must fall ever more into bloodlust.

Chaos in moderation just doesn't work in the 40k universe. The gods are emotional excess personified, and all they wish for is to further their particular emotion. How can one 'worship' Khorne while abstaining from everything he considers 'worship'?

That being said I love the fluff for your chapter. It has a great combination of heroism and tragedy.

They just...don't sound like a Khornate warband.

Hmmm...any constructive ideas about how to fix this and make them more Khorney? Possibly by accepting that their mutations are there and aren't going away, and that their new lives can only find fulfillment to in service of the Blood God? (therefore giving themselves to the Blood God with no remorse).

However their name Wendigos is taken from a creature of Native Amrican folklore known for its stealth and cunning. In addition, I feel like even though they are Khorne-dedicated, they aren't blood-crazed maniacs. That's the point of why I wrote this. Fore example, in the Chaos codex there is a page-long story about a squad of Berserkers who, instead of charging into a line of basilisks with axes swinging, cleverly wait for them to run out of shells and reload before charging. That's the kind of mentality I was trying to capture - taking blood without the mass casualties.
Thus the need for the Claw company. I have the image in my mind of a squad of blood-covered marines greedily slurping down raw meat torn from corpses, supported by a havoc squad positioned on the cliff behind. When the enemy tries to charge and put an end to the threat while they are distracted, the havocs lay down suppressing fire, allowing the marines to sate their bloodlust fully.

The cannibalism theme is still necessary, as its a cornerstone of the Chapter idea. That would be like taking the Fallen out of DA fluff or the Black Rage away from the Blood Angels. Perhaps the Blood God's fickle curse was that only a warrior who feasts on the flesh of the slain can best their next foe in martial combat? Thus the need for a steady tide of feeding in battle, to ensure the Wendigos still seem like worthwhile entertainment in the Blood God's eyes.

What do you think?


Automatically Appended Next Post:
Also, possible potential color scheme. OBVIOUSLY covered in a lot more blood and gore - really messy

I swear this is pretty much the backstory for the Flesh Tearers?

First off, Wendigos are more fitting for the likes of Tzeentch, not so much Khorne. Second off, I suppose they could be Khorne dedicated but do not receive much in the way of blessings from the Blood God due to their methods of combat (they'd probably be considered "unhonorable" and "inglorious" for their "underhanded" techniques). Perhaps that a more tzeentch-like warband worships him would amuse khorne (though spite him all the same) so he hands them a mixed blessing in the curse that they must consume the flesh of those they fell in battle or expect to die in the next battle.

You can make a Khornate warband without making them pants on head "BLOOD FOR THE BLOOD GOD!" slowed. ie. They use actual tactics.

I think the big issue is that back story is about them being renegades, not being loyal servants to Khorne.


Khorne actually values the blood of powerful warriors, make them old school Khorne, they value things like nobility in combat but focus on melee combat and killing the most powerful opponent

Berserkers aren't always nutters anyway, they go berserk in battle not all the time...

NEW UPDATES

The curse has been changed - no longer a mutation, the only way for Khorne to grant them success is for them to feed and be cannibals.

Shroud has been disbanded.

Librarians are all dead, instead of just being non-psychic.

The chapter is now FULLY enthralled to Khorne.

I like

How does the color scheme seem, everyone?

I'm wondering if it wouldn't be better done with a loyalist color generator. It all depends on how old they were when they went rogue. The scheme itself is fine, but they way I imagined them was with more advanced power armor.